Overseaming mechanism.



J. E. FEFEL.

OVERSEAMING MECHANISM. APPLICATION FILED I'EB.1"7, 1910,

Patented July 15, 1913.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN E. FEIEEL, OF BRISTOL, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO NEW DEPARTURE MANUFAC- TURIN G COMPANY, OF BRISTOL, CONNECTICUT, A CORPORATION OF CONNECTICUT.

OVERSEAMING MECHANISM.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented July 15, l 91 3- Application filed February 17, 1910. Serial No. 544,509.

To all, whom it may concern Be it known that I, JOHN E. FEFEL, a citizen of the United States, residing at Bristol, in the county of Hartford and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and" useful'lmprovements in Overseaming Mechanisms, of which the following is a specification.

One object is to provide a mechanism whereby the fabric can be smoothly fed without danger of rucking, the stitching being thus evenly produced.

A further object is to avoid straining or puckering the fabric.

A further object is to provide for forming the stitchwithout causing the same to double erally upon devices of the character indi-v cated, my invention consists in the various matters hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings Figure 1 is a side elevation of a portion of a sewing machine embodying my invention; Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the same, the usual work plate and its feed dogs being also indicated in section and a section of the fabric being shown in position, the dotted lines indicating a second position of the edge-rocking clothcarrier; Fig. 3'is a fragmentary rear elevation, partly in section, illustrating the said cloth-carrier in said second position; Fig. 4: is a face view of the cam' disk and its operating ratchet disk; Fig. 5 is a view of one side of an overseam produced by the present mechanism; Fig. 6 is a fragmentary top plan view of certain elements and the work, illustrating the parts in position for the needle to pass outside of the fabric; Fig. 7 is a similar view illustrating the parts in the above mentioned second position so that the needle can pierce the fabric inside of its edge; and Fig. 8 is a diagrammatical view illustrating the tightening of the stitch (by the action of the usual take up) over a thread support instead of against the work itself.

In the illustrated embodiment of my invention, 1 indicates a presser foot having a shank 17 attached to the usual presser bar 18. The usual needle bar 8- with its customary set screw 8 carries the ordinary needle 5.- The work X is shown as supported upon the usual work plate 19 in connectlon with which the ordinary feed dogs 20 and 21 are illustrated. The usual takeup and shuttle being well understood are not herein shown.

As illustrated in Figs. 2 and 6, the side of the presser foot adjacent the needle is spaced from the needla's'uch a distance that an upturned edge m of the fabric can lie between said needle and the said side of the presser foot, so that when the parts are in this position the needle can reciprocate without entering the fabric. An edge-rocking clothcarrier 3, however, engages the edge of the fabric, as by means of a vertical slot 4, and reciprocates transverse the line of feed, so that in what may betermed 'its outward movement (away from the said side of the presser foot and occurring when the needle is elevated) said rocker carries the edge of the fabric to the opposite side of the needle,

as shown'in Fig. 7, thus laying a portion of. the fabric in the path of the needle whereby the needle pierces the fabric in its next descent. When said edge-rocker returns to its first position, shown in Fig. 6, the fabric edge is again brought between the needle 4 and the said side of the presser foot so that in its next descent the needle again does not 'pierce the goods. Obviously, by thus moving the fabric edge back and forth across the line of the needle, the needle alternately pierces the fabric and then fails to pierce it, the result being that the stitch produced by the usual stitch-forming mechanism of the sewing machine appears as an overseam over the said edge of the fabric. Preferably a guide is provided for holding the fabric edge in its upturned position and feeding the same to the said cloth-carrier, such guide being conveniently produced by the inverted U-shaped extension 2 of the presser foot, upon the side of said foot adjacent the needle, said extension presenting a vertical guide channel which receives the upturned edge of the fabric and alines with the slot- 4 of the, said cloth-carrier when the latter is imposition to cause the needle to pass outside of the fabric. It will be'noted that the movement of the fabric occurs outside of the presser foot, the fabric lying between the needle and the presser foot when the needle fails to pierce the goods and the fabric being moved away from the presser foot when the needle is to pierce the goods. This presents several features of material advantage. In the first place it permits the fabric to at all times lie smoothly between the presser foot and the work plate, thus avoiding rucking and unevenness of feed as could result were the edge .of the fabric to be pushed into line with the presser foot. Furthermore, as the edge of the fabric is free upon at least one side v(the rear) of the cloth-carrier 3, the rocking of said edge from one position to the other occurs without'strain upon the fabric and without danger of causing it to pucker along the edge. Again, by thus causing the movement of the fabric edge to occur outside of the presser foot it becomes unnecessary to provide recesses or other indentations in the body of said foot, and in this way the width of the presser foot is preserved so that it cooperates throughout its length with the feed dog 20. Also, any rucking or pushing of the fabric and its overseam over the rough teeth of a feed dog is entirely avoided. 'As the cloth-carrier preferably lies above the bottom edge of the presser foot and does not extend to the bottom face of the fabric upon 'the work plate, rucking of the projecting portion of the cloth is avoided and, instead, the easy rocking of such projecting portion upon an axis along the edge of the presser foot substantially parallel with the line of. feed is assured.

Preferably, I provide a thread support over which the stitch is formed and against which it is drawn up by the take-up, so that the strain of the take-up occurs against the thread support rather than against the edge of the fabric itself and the take-up action thus does not double the fabric edge over or buckle said edge. This thread support can be conveniently formed as a rearwardly extending finger 6 adapted to lie over the fabric edge, as shown particularly in Fig. 8, as well as in Figs. 6 and 7, and it can be conveniently supported upon said cloth-carrier so that said carrier carries the finger from side to side of the needle to permit said fin er to occupy proper posi tions with relation to the thread. As the needle thread extending from the last completed stitch lies. upon the left side of the upturned edge of the fabric, as the parts are shown in Fig. 2, it is obvious that, with the finger 6 to the left of'the needle, as the parts appear in 'Fig. 2, when the needle descends to pass outside of the fabric, such needle thread, extending from the lower line of the seam to the needle eye, extends over and is supported by-said supporting finger 6 instead of by the edge of the fabric itself, and after the shuttle thread has passed through the loop of the needle thread in the usual way and the needle then rises as usual, the customary action of the take-up causes the shuttle thread to bedrawn up against the said finger, as shown in Fig. 8, and the stitch is thus drawn taut against the finger instead of against the fabric edge itself, thus avoiding all doubling-strain upon the fabric edge. The cloth-carrier and its finger 6 having shifted transversely during the ascent of the needle, said finger now lies to the right of the needle, as indicated in Fig. 8, so that upon the next descent-of the needle, to form the stitch at what may be termed the base of the seam, the needle thread remains upon the left side of the thread support and is thus in position to be again carried over said thread support when said support shifts back to its position shown in Fig. .2 and the needle again descends for the stitch which will be formed above the edge of the fabric as previously explained. Thus, the thread support shifts alternately from side to side of the needle so that it always occupies such position as the particular relationship of the cooperating parts may require in order to cause the stitch over the edge of the fabric to betautened against the said support instead of against the fabric edge itself, said support also protecting said edge as the needle in its descent draws the thread Over the edge. As the feed of the machine proceeds, the stitch thus formed over the supporting finger 6 slips off the rear end of said finger said supporting finger is of such length that in the ordinary feeding action of the machine it retains about two stitches at a time, as shown in Figs. 6 and 7 and it has been found that after a stitch slips off the end of the finger and engages the fabric edge the next action of the take-up usually exerts suflicient tension upon such stitch to slightly and satisfactorily embed the same in the fabric edge, as indicated in Fig. 5.

, The cloth-carrier 3 is conveniently pivoted upon a stud l4: projecting from the shank ofthe presser foot, and is here shown as provided with an arm 13 which rests upon the periphery of a cam disk 12 rotatably supported upon a stud 9, also projecting from the sliank of the presser foot, a spring 15, connected to the presserfoot shank and bearing against the cloth-carrier, serving to retain said arm'13 upon the cam surface. Said cam disk has alternating 10W portions or notches 16 and high portions 22, so that as the arm 13 follows these depressions and elevations it is rocked upon the said pivot stud 14 and the cloth-engaging end of the and engages the fabric edge. Usually the cloth-carrier is correspondingly reciprocated across the line. of the stitch, thus bringing the slot or channel 4 of the cloth-carrier into and out of alinement with the guide channel 2 of the presser foot and thereby moving or rocking the fabric edge :12 as previously explained to cause the needle to alternately pass upon opposite sides of the edge of the work. Preferably the parts are so arranged that the arm 13 lies in a depression 16 of the .cam disk when the channels 2 and 4 are in alinement, so that the raised portions 22 positively move the cloth-carrier to carry: the fabric edge outwardly or away from the presser foot, the spring 15 merely returning 'arm extending in position to be engaged and raised by the set screw 8 of the needle bar while its opposite arm carries a spring pressed pawl 10 cotiperating with said ratchet teeth. A spring 23 serves to return the actuating lever to its position against a suitable stop, such asthe finger 24 upon the shank of the presser foot, this spring conveniently having one end secured to a part of the actuating lever, such as the stud 25, and having its other end conveniently fastened tosome relatively fixed portion of the device, such as the head of the stud 9. Thus, the parts being in the positions shown in Fig. 1, the screw 8 en ages the under side of the arm of the leVer Y as the needle bar rises and thus rocks said actuating lever to advance the cam disk 12 the space of one tooth of the ratchet disk 11, the said spring 23 causing the actuating lever to return to retracted position, with its pawl 10 in position to engage the next tooth of the ratchet disk, as the needle bar descends.

The studs 14 and 9 project at substantially right angles to each other, the arm 13 of the cloth-carrier being correspondingly bent. This enables the cloth-carrier 3 and the actuating lever 7 to be compactly arranged upon the presser foot shank and at the same time lie in convenient positions with respect to their cooperating parts.

Thus the present mechanism provides for overseaming Without rucking, straining or puc'kering the fabric and without interfering with the even and regular feed of the machine. Furthermore, it provides for tightening the stitch without buckling the edge of the fabric. At the same time, certain of the elements are compactly arranged upon a single support (the shank of the presser foot) so that the mere application of this support to a sewing machine of usual structure converts such machine into one embodying the present overseaming mechanism.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as newtand desire to secure by Letters Patent is- 1. The combination witha presser foot located to one side of the line of the stitch and spaced therefrom, of means for supporting the upturned edge of the fabric between said presser foot and said line, and means for moving said edge back and forth across said line; substantially as described.

2. The combination with a presser foot,

of a cloth guide having a guide channel whose guide walls extend at an angle to the plane of the body portion of the engaged fabric, a reciprocatory cloth-carrier provided with a corresponding guide channel, and means for reciprocating said carrier and its said channel in a line'transverse the longitudinal axis of said guide channel of said cloth guide; substantially as described.

3. The combination with a presser foot, of a ,cloth guide mounted thereon and, haying a fabric-receiving slot through which the fabric travels and open at one end, a cloth-carrier movably mounted upon said presser foot and having means for engaging both sides of the fabric, and means for reciprocating said carrier; substantially as described.

4. The combination with a presser foot, of a cloth-carrier pivot-ally mounted thereon to reciprocate transverse the line of feed, a rotatable cam disk mounted" upon said presser footto rotate upon an axis trans. verse said line of feed, an angular extension upon said carrier cooperating with said cam, an actuating arm rockably mounted upon said presser foot and extending substantially parallel with said line of feed to lie in the path of a projection upon the usual needle ,bar, and driving connection between said arm and said disk; substantially as described.

5. The combination with a support for the fabric, of a reciprocatory cloth-carrier, a thread support carried thereby, and means for reciprocating said carrier transverse the line of stitch; substantially as described.

6. The combination with a support for the fabric, of a reciprocatory cloth-carrier,-

a thread support carried thereby and extending rearwardly therefrom, and means for reciprocating said carrier transverse the line of stitch; substantially as described.

7. The combination with a support for the fabric, of a reciprocatory cloth-carrier provided with a cloth-receiving channel, and

a thread support upon said carrier above said channel; substantially as described.

8. In a device of the class specified, a presser-foot havinga groove therein adapt-- ed to receive a cloth edge, a transversely movable member adjacent thereto and having an aperture corresponding to said groove, 9. thread supporting finger above said aperture, and a suitable actuating I mechanism. I

9. In a device of the class specified a stationary member having a groove mem er adapted to receive a cloth edge, a movable member adjacent thereto and having a corresponding groove to receive said cloth edge, and a finger secured to said movable member in alinement with said groove.

10. The combination with a stitch forming mechanism including a movable needle, of

means for supporting the edge of the cloth at an angle to the body portion thereof and for carrying said edge back and forth across the line of the movement of said needle; 1.5 substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I aflix'my signature in presence of two witnesses.

JOHN E. FEFEL.

Witnesses:

E. D. ROCKWELL, GEORGE S. BEACH. 

